VMware Management - vSphere Administration Guide

vSphere Management Guide

Effective management of VMware vSphere infrastructure requires understanding deployment strategies, operational procedures, monitoring techniques, and best practices. This comprehensive guide covers all aspects of vSphere administration, from initial deployment to day-to-day operations and advanced troubleshooting.

Whether you're a new administrator or an experienced vSphere professional, this guide provides practical insights for managing enterprise virtualization infrastructure effectively.

Deployment Planning

Proper planning ensures successful vSphere deployment and long-term operational success:

Infrastructure Assessment

                Pre-Deployment Checklist
                Hardware Compatibility: Verify all hardware on VMware HCL
Network Requirements: Plan VLANs, IP addressing, DNS, NTP
Storage Design: Determine storage protocols, capacity, performance needs
Licensing: Calculate required licenses for hosts and features
Naming Conventions: Establish consistent naming standards
Security Requirements: Define access control, compliance needs
Backup Strategy: Plan backup and disaster recovery approach
Documentation: Create deployment and operational documentation

            

Design Considerations

Cluster Design: Number of hosts, DRS/HA configuration, resource pools
Network Design: Management, vMotion, VM, iSCSI/NFS networks
Storage Design: RAID levels, multipathing, tiering strategy
Resource Planning: CPU/memory ratios, over-subscription limits
Scalability: Growth planning for compute, storage, network
High Availability: Failure scenarios, recovery objectives (RTO/RPO)
Disaster Recovery: Off-site replication, backup locations

vCenter Server Deployment

VCSA Deployment Steps

Download VCSA ISO: Obtain from VMware downloads portal
Mount ISO: Extract installer files
Run Installer: Launch vcsa-deploy.exe (Windows) or installer script (Mac/Linux)
Stage 1 - Deploy Appliance:
- Target ESXi host or vCenter
- Appliance sizing (Tiny/Small/Medium/Large/X-Large)
- Storage configuration
- Network settings (IP, DNS, gateway)
Stage 2 - Setup vCenter:
- SSO configuration (new/join domain)
- Configure CEIP participation
- Complete deployment
Post-Deployment: Access VAMI (port 5480) and vSphere Client

vCenter Sizing Guidelines

Size	vCPUs	Memory	Hosts	VMs
Tiny	2	12 GB	Up to 10	Up to 100
Small	4	19 GB	Up to 100	Up to 1,000
Medium	8	28 GB	Up to 400	Up to 4,000
Large	16	37 GB	Up to 1,000	Up to 10,000
X-Large	24	56 GB	Up to 2,000	Up to 35,000

Cluster Configuration

Creating and Configuring Clusters

DRS Configuration

Set automation level (Manual/Partial/Full)
Configure migration threshold (Conservative to Aggressive)
Enable/disable VM automation individually
Create affinity/anti-affinity rules
Configure VM-Host rules
Enable Distributed Power Management (DPM)

HA Configuration

Enable host monitoring
Configure admission control policy
Set VM restart priority
Configure host isolation response
Enable VM and application monitoring
Configure datastore heartbeating

Enhanced vMotion

Configure EVC mode for cluster
Enable vMotion on VMkernel adapters
Configure vMotion network on all hosts
Set number of concurrent vMotions
Configure encrypted vMotion
Test vMotion functionality

Fault Tolerance

Configure FT logging network
Verify CPU compatibility
Enable FT on critical VMs
Test FT failover
Monitor FT bandwidth usage
Document FT-protected VMs

Network Management

Standard Switch Configuration

Create vSwitch: Add virtual switches per host
Add Uplinks: Connect physical NICs to vSwitch
Create Port Groups: Define VLAN-tagged networks
Configure Security: Set promiscuous mode, MAC changes policies
Setup NIC Teaming: Configure load balancing and failover
Traffic Shaping: Set bandwidth limits if needed

Distributed Switch Configuration

Create vDS: Define version and uplink count in vCenter
Add Hosts: Add ESXi hosts to distributed switch
Migrate Physical Adapters: Move uplinks from standard to distributed switch
Create Port Groups: Define distributed port groups
Migrate VM Networking: Move VMs to distributed port groups
Configure Advanced Features: NetFlow, LACP, port mirroring
Enable Health Check: Monitor configuration consistency

Network Best Practices

Networking Recommendations

Separate management, vMotion, VM, and storage networks
Use at least two physical NICs for redundancy
Configure VLAN trunking on physical switch ports
Enable jumbo frames for vMotion and iSCSI/NFS
Use LACP for optimal load balancing on vDS
Implement Network I/O Control for QoS
Document VLAN assignments and IP schemes
Test failover scenarios regularly

Storage Management

VMFS Datastore Creation

Present LUN from storage array to ESXi hosts
Rescan storage adapters on all hosts
Navigate to Storage > New Datastore in vSphere Client
Select VMFS as datastore type
Select device/LUN for datastore
Choose VMFS version (VMFS6 recommended)
Configure partition size
Mount datastore on all cluster hosts

NFS Datastore Configuration

Configure NFS export on storage server
Add NFS mount point on ESXi hosts
Specify NFS server IP and export path
Choose NFS version (3 or 4.1)
Set datastore name
Configure advanced options (auth, delegation)
Verify connectivity and accessibility

Multipathing Configuration

                Path Selection Policies
                Fixed: Use designated preferred path
Most Recently Used (MRU): Use path until failure
Round Robin (RR): Rotate I/O across all active paths
Custom: Vendor-specific multipathing

            

Virtual Machine Management

VM Creation Best Practices

Right-sizing: Allocate appropriate CPU/RAM (avoid over-provisioning)
Virtual Hardware: Use latest compatible VM hardware version
Disk Format: Thin provisioning for development, thick for production
SCSI Controller: Use Paravirtual (PVSCSI) for best performance
Network Adapter: Use VMXNET3 for optimal network performance
VMware Tools: Install immediately after OS installation
Resource Reservations: Set only for business-critical VMs
Limits: Avoid setting limits unless absolutely necessary

Template Management

Build Master VM: Install and configure OS
Install Updates: Apply all OS patches
Install VMware Tools: Ensure latest version
Configure for Cloning: Remove unique identifiers
Sysprep (Windows): Generalize Windows installation
Shutdown VM: Power off before conversion
Convert to Template: Right-click > Template > Convert to Template
Store in Content Library: Import to content library for sharing

Snapshot Management

Snapshot Best Practices

Snapshots are not backups - temporary only
Delete snapshots after testing/verification
Avoid snapshots on production database VMs
Monitor snapshot disk space consumption
Limit snapshot retention to 24-72 hours
Avoid multiple snapshots per VM
Schedule snapshot deletion during maintenance windows
Use scripts to identify old snapshots

Backup and Recovery

vCenter Backup Strategy

File-Based Backup: Use VAMI (port 5480) native backup
Backup Schedule: Daily incremental, weekly full recommended
Backup Location: Network share (NFS, SMB, FTP, HTTP)
Encryption: Enable encryption for sensitive data
Retention: Maintain multiple restore points
Test Restores: Regularly verify backup integrity
Document Procedure: Maintain recovery documentation

ESXi Configuration Backup

Use vCenter to backup host configuration
Schedule automated backup via PowerCLI scripts
Export configuration with: vim-cmd hostsvc/firmware/backup_config
Download backup bundle from ESXi web interface
Store backups in version-controlled repository
Test restoration on non-production hosts

VM Backup Solutions

Agent-Based Backup

Install backup agent in guest OS
Application-aware backups
File-level recovery
Works with physical and virtual

Image-Based Backup

VADP (vStorage APIs for Data Protection)
VM-level granularity
Changed Block Tracking (CBT)
Minimal VM impact

Replication

vSphere Replication
Site Recovery Manager
Array-based replication
Near real-time protection

Third-Party Solutions

Veeam Backup & Replication
Commvault Complete Backup
Veritas NetBackup
Dell EMC Avamar

Performance Monitoring

Key Performance Metrics

Resource	Metric	Healthy Range	Action Threshold
CPU	Usage %	< 80%	> 90% sustained
CPU	Ready %	< 5%	> 10% sustained
Memory	Usage %	< 90%	> 95% sustained
Memory	Ballooning	0 MB	> 0 MB indicates pressure
Storage	Latency	< 15ms	> 20ms sustained
Network	Throughput	< 80% capacity	> 90% sustained

esxtop Performance Tool

# CPU statistics
esxtop
Press 'c' for CPU view
Key metrics: %USED, %RDY, %CSTP

# Memory statistics  
Press 'm' for memory view
Key metrics: MEMSZ, GRANT, ACTIV, MCTL

# Network statistics
Press 'n' for network view
Key metrics: MbTX/s, MbRX/s, %DRPTX, %DRPRX

# Storage statistics
Press 'd' for disk view
Key metrics: CMDS/s, READS/s, WRITES/s, DAVG/cmd

Update and Patch Management

vSphere Lifecycle Manager Workflow

Import Image: Import vendor-provided ESXi image
Create Cluster Image: Define desired cluster image
Check Compliance: Scan cluster against desired state
Remediate Cluster: Apply updates to non-compliant hosts
Automated Process:
- Put host in maintenance mode
- Evacuate VMs with vMotion
- Apply updates and reboot
- Verify host health
- Exit maintenance mode
- Proceed to next host

Patching Best Practices

Review release notes for each patch
Test patches in non-production environment
Create baseline snapshots before patching
Schedule maintenance windows
Patch vCenter before ESXi hosts
Patch one host at a time initially
Monitor for issues after patching
Document patch levels and changes

Security Management

Access Control

                Security Best Practices
                Least Privilege: Grant minimum required permissions
Role-Based Access: Use built-in and custom roles
Active Directory: Integrate with AD for centralized authentication
Lockdown Mode: Enable on ESXi hosts managed by vCenter
Certificate Management: Replace default certificates
Session Timeouts: Configure appropriate timeout values
Audit Logging: Enable and monitor audit logs
VM Encryption: Encrypt sensitive VM workloads

            

vCenter Roles

Role	Permissions	Use Case
Administrator	Full control	vSphere administrators
Read-Only	View only	Auditors, monitoring systems
Virtual Machine Power User	VM operations	Application administrators
Virtual Machine User	Limited VM interaction	End users
Resource Pool Administrator	Resource pool management	Department administrators
Datastore Consumer	Allocate space	VM deployment users

Troubleshooting

Common Issues and Solutions

VM Performance

Check CPU ready time
Verify memory ballooning
Review storage latency
Check network drops
Update VMware Tools
Right-size VM resources

vMotion Failures

Verify network connectivity
Check EVC compatibility
Review resource availability
Validate shared storage access
Check for snapshots
Review vMotion logs

HA Failures

Verify host heartbeats
Check admission control
Review isolation addresses
Validate datastore access
Check master election
Review fdm.log files

Storage Issues

Rescan storage adapters
Check multipath status
Verify LUN presentation
Review storage latency
Check for APD/PDL conditions
Validate array health

Log Files Reference

Important Log Locations

/var/log/vmkernel.log: VMkernel events and errors
/var/log/hostd.log: Host management service logs
/var/log/vpxa.log: vCenter agent logs
/var/log/vmware/ Various service-specific logs
vmware.log: Per-VM logs in VM directory
vCenter logs: /var/log/vmware/ on VCSA

Capacity Planning

Monitor Trends: Track resource utilization over time
Peak Usage: Identify peak demand periods
Growth Rate: Calculate VM growth rate
Resource Pools: Allocate resources per business unit
Forecasting: Project future capacity needs
Budget Planning: Plan hardware refresh cycles
Right-sizing: Identify oversized VMs
Consolidation Ratio: Track VMs per host ratio

Documentation and Procedures

                Essential Documentation
                Network diagrams with VLANs and IP assignments
Storage architecture and LUN mappings
Host and cluster configurations
Disaster recovery procedures
Backup and restore procedures
Change management processes
Contact lists for escalation
Vendor support information
License inventory and renewal dates
Compliance and audit requirements

            

Note: Effective vSphere management requires continuous learning and adaptation to new features and best practices. Stay current with VMware documentation, community forums, and training resources to optimize your virtualization infrastructure.